He Sent Every Dollar, So Why Was My Daughter Starving? novel · Chapter 1 of 24
Chapter 1: The Call
Emmeline asks her husband for a divorce so Maisy can eat; he says he has sent every dollar, and Tanya's phone shows Emmeline's account.
I called my husband on his base overseas and told him I wanted a divorce.
He had not been home in two years.
My daughter sat in her chair at the kitchen table with her hands pressed flat against her stomach.
She was four, and her fingers were shaking.
"Kurt, I want a divorce," I said.
The line went quiet.
"Emmeline?" His voice came back rough. "What's wrong? Where is this coming from?"
I looked at her thin wrists and kept my voice level.
"A friend introduced me to someone. He says if I marry him, she eats a hot meal every day."
My best friend, Tanya, sat beside her with one arm around her, as she had every night this week.
She gave me a small nod, the one that meant keep going.
"You have another woman over there anyway," I said. "I know you do. Just let us go."
Kurt's breathing got loud in the speaker.
"Another woman? Since when?" he said. "Emmeline, I have not looked at anyone. I have not even left the base for anything but work."
"Tanya saw the messages."
"What messages? I don't have messages."
Tanya's hand tightened on Maisy's shoulder.
I felt the first crack in what I had been told.
"Kurt, I don't have time to argue," I said. "There's nothing in the cupboards. Maisy fainted at the checkout on Friday, in front of the whole line."
"She what?"
"She fainted. I had eleven dollars and the card got declined, and Mr. Bissell paid for our groceries with everyone watching."
Silence again.
Then Kurt said it slowly, one word at a time.
"Emmeline. I send you three thousand one hundred dollars on the first of every month."
"You stopped."
"I did not stop. I have not missed one month in two years."
My mouth opened and nothing came out.
"The money goes into our account at the credit union," he said. "It's on my pay stub. I can read you every line."
"There is nothing in that account."
"Then somebody took it."
"Don't," I said. "Don't make this about somebody else. You stopped calling. You stopped coming home."
"You stopped answering," he said. "I called every Sunday for eight months. The number went dead."
I looked at the phone in my hand.
It was the cheap one Tanya had set up for me last spring, to save me twelve dollars a month.
Tanya looked at the ceiling.
"Hon, he's lying," she whispered. "Men lie. Don't let him talk you out of this."
I covered the speaker with my palm.
"He says he sent the money."
"Of course he says that. Think about Maisy."
She was right about one thing.
I was thinking about Maisy.
"Put her on," Kurt said. "Please. Just let me hear her."
I turned the phone toward my daughter.
"Maisy, it's Daddy."
"Daddy?" Her whole face lit up and her voice cracked. "Daddy, my tummy hurts."
I heard a sound come out of him that I had never heard in nine years of knowing him.
"I know, baby girl. I know. I'm going to fix it. You hold on."
"Are you coming home?"
"I'm coming home."
"Kurt, don't promise her that," I said, taking the phone back.
"I'm not promising," he said. "Listen to me, Emmeline. I signed for her in that hospital hallway, and I would sign again tomorrow. Nobody takes her from me and nobody takes you from me over a lie."
My throat closed.
I did not know what he meant by hallway or by lie, and I could not stop to find out.
"I can't wait for you to fix it," I said. "She needs to eat tomorrow."
"Then do not sign anything," he said. "Do you hear me? Do not marry anyone and do not sign a single piece of paper. I'll get leave."
"They said no to you twice already."
"Who told you that?"
I didn't answer.
"I'll find a way," he said. "Give me three days."
"Goodbye, Kurt."
"Emmeline, wait. Check the account yourself. Walk in there and ask for the statements. Please."
I ended the call before I could say yes.
Tanya was already out of her chair.
"He's playing for time," she said. "Lowell's lawyer comes tomorrow at nine. Don't let Kurt scare you off the one decent offer you'll get."
"He said the money never stopped."
"Then he's a good liar." She squeezed my arm and smiled. "I'll take Maisy to bed and wash up. You sit."
She picked up her purse from the counter and her phone slid out onto the table.
The screen lit up when it hit the wood.
It was a banking app, open and logged in.
At the top of the page was a name I knew better than my own.
Emmeline Gleason, with an account number I had never seen.
Tanya snatched the phone up and slid it into her bag, smiling the whole time.
"Battery's dying," she said.
I watched her carry my daughter to bed, and for the first time in my life I did not say thank you.
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